Apparatus for conforming shoe uppers



July 16, 1963 w. G. HAWKINS APPARATUS FOR CONFORMING SHOE UPPERS Y m M TVA R NW 0 1 EA T W aw /w VA 6 R. m 6 m S MY 5 M 9 Filed QCG- 25, 1960 July 16, 1963 w. G. HAWKINS 3,097,379 APPARATUS FOR CONFORMING SHOE UPPERS Filed 001',- 25. 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet .2

IN [/5 N TOR MLLAcE GERALD HAW/(m5 ATTOQNEY July 16, 1963 Filed Oct. 25, 1960 W. G. HAWKINS APPARATUS FOR CONFORMING SHOE UPPERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 WALL/w: GERALD HAWKIMS /NVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,tl97,37 APPARATUS FOR CQNFURMING SHGE UPPERS Wallace Gerald Hawkins, Ashcott, near Bridgewater,

Somerset, England, assignor to C.I.C. Engineering Limited, Somerset, England, a British company Filed Oct. 25, 1960, Ser. No. 64,346 7 Claims. (Cl. 12l0.l)

This invention relates to the conforming of pliable blanks and the like to a shaped former, such as lined or unlined leather shoe uppers to shoemaking lasts, and is concerned with apparatus for controlling the deformation of such blanks.

The main object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus for controlling the deformation of a pliable blank about a former, such as a leather shoe upper about a last, and for arresting such deformation when some sensible indicia, such as a mark on the blank (applied, for example, by a mechanical stamping device), reaches a required datum point on or in relation to the former.

Two sensing systems are possible, viz. (a) a non-contacting system, that is, one where the device used for sensing the location of a certain area of the blank or of a mark thereon is not physically connected to the blank, and (b) a contacting system, that is, one where the indicia is a protuberance, recess or the equivalent on or in the blank, a stuck-on patch, a pattern afforded by stitching or even the actual shape of the blank itself.

A non-contacting system is to be preferred, because it will permit of operation on all kinds of pliable materials, with any type of surface, such as matt or glazed leather. A photo-electric system is especially suitable, since in this case the marks on the leather may be made with a fluorescent pigment excitable by ultraviolet light.

In accordance with the invention, means are provided for conforming a pliable blank to a former by sensing portions of the blank as they are displaced over the former during the act of conforming and utilizing the movements of the sensed portions to control automatically the continuance or arresting of said conforming operation. Apparatus for performing such method comprises poweroperated means for stretching the blank over the former, sensing devices operating to detect movements of portions of the blank as it is thus stretched over the former and means responsive to said sensing devices to control auto matically continued operation or arrest of the blank stretching means.

The present invention is especially applicable to socalled forepart lasting wherein the toe portions of a shoe upper are conformed by power-operated means to a shoe last while the upper is positioned thereupon, and, by way of example, the invention will be more particularly described with reference to the forepart lasting of shoe uppers.

Conventional methods and apparatus for forepart lasting known hitherto have required considerable manipulative skill on the part of the machine operator in positioning the shoe upper in the required position upon a last, in arranging the last in the work station of the forepart lasting apparatus, and in the subsequent mechanical operations performed on the shoe upper during the lasting or pulling-over operations.

In one well-known forepart lasting method, the mar- !ginal portions of the shoe upper are manipulated by gripping and pulling-over devices operated by fluid pressure and are subsequently secured, by a heat-activated cement, to an insole member carried upon the shoe last, by means of power-operated means arranged to wipe the lasting margin portions of the upper against the said insole. In this and similar cases it is necessary for the operator to shoe upper upon the last, to retain at least the heel portion in the required position by tacking it to the last and to maintain the forepart in approximate symmetry, While offering the upper and last assembly to the pulling-over station. Even in machines in which hydraulically operated grippers are employed, mechanical means are usually provided for the use of the operator in displacing such grippers to effect preliminary drafting prior to hydraulic pincer actuation. Skill is also needed for the initial positioning of the upper in the machine.

Similarly appreciable manual skill is required during the pulling-over and wiping-under operations performed on the upper, with the result that the efficiency of the lasting operation, expressed in terms of snugness of fit and accurate location of the forepart areas, in combination with an accurately positioned and tensioned top line or throat of the upper, depends to a large extent upon the operators skill.

A further object of the present invention is, therefore, the provision of improved apparatus for shoe upper conforming or lasting, in the use of which, the operators skill may be largely dispensed With this further object in view, the present invention also provides in an apparatus for conforming a shoe upper to a last means for sensing portions of the upper as it is pulled-over the last by power-operated grippers and means for utilizing the movements of such sensing means to control automatically the continued operation or arrest of the pulling-over grippers.

As applied to shoe upper forepart conforming the present invention envisages the employment of a shoe last provided with means for engagement with a jack or like support for positively and accurately locating the last in a desired relationship with an upper pulling-over station position the and means incorporated in or carried upon the forepart .stood 'an embodiment thereof will now be described, by

way of example, with reference to drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a last-supported upper bearing sensing indicia on its forepart,

FIG. 2 is a part-sectional perspective view of a forepart lasting station, without the last-supported upper in position, and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an optical sensing device,

FIG. 4 is a View similar to FIG. 2, but with the last-supported upper in the pulling-over position,

FIG. 5 is a diagram of hydro-electric control circuitry for the lasting apparatus, [and FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view through an electrically operated valve used in said hydro-electric circuitry.

In the embodiment illustrated the last 1 is provided with a register device, such as an apertured plate 2, as shown in FIG. 1, which includes at least one bore extending into the last body for cooperation with a ret-ainin g spigot 3 carried on a last retaining plate 4, shown in FIG. 2. The forepart of the shoe upper 9 is provided with sensing indicia 5 of the kind hereinafter described.

A forepart lasting station would include a plurality of fluid-pressure actuatable gripping and pulling-over units (hereinafter generally referred to as the grippers and indicated generally in the drawings by the numeral 6), for example five grippers as shown, each of which may be and preferably is independently adjustable for height and the accompanying 3 for swivelling about a vertical axis in relation to a gripper support 7, to which the grippers 6 are suitably clamped. The set of five grippers 6 comprise generally a toe gripper 6-1, a pair of forward and rear right-side grippers 6-2R, 6-3R respectively, and a pair of forward and rear left-side grippers 6-2L, 6-3L. A sensing head 8 is superposed above a fixed last support or jack 14) carried by the gripper support 7. As shown in FIG. 3, the sensing head 8 includes a plurality of optical systems equal in number to the number of grippers 6.

The last retaining plate 4 is arranged to support and to retain the last 1 and to move it into the lasting station, that is, into the working or pulling-over position shown in FIG. 4, wherein the open jaws of the grippers 6 receive the lasting margins of the upper 9. Displacement of the sensing indicia 5 toward the desired optimum during stretching of the upper material is detected by the optical systems of the sensing head 8. If, for example, the upper 9' is displaced toward the right the action of the corresponding right-side grippers 6-2R, 6-3R is arrested, whereupon the left-side grippers 6-2L, 6-3L, being still operative, will tend to displace the upper 9 in the opposite direction. Similarly the foremost or toe gripper 6-1 is arrested when appropriate, forward displacement of the sensing indicia 5 is detected by sensing head 8.

In this embodiment of the invention, where the forepart lasting apparatus employs a plurality of fluid-pressure perated grippers 6, the sensing indicia is conveniently in the form of printed marks carried by an adhesive patch 11 attached to an upwardly facing area of the upper forepart, said sensing marks having light reflecting properties different to that of applied patch 11.

The sensing head 8 associated with the lasting station would then comprise a cluster of light sensitive cells adapted, in response to light values reflected from said sensing indicia, to control through an amplified electrical stage and inter-related fluid pressure control valves, as

hereinafter more particularly described, the movements of the grippers. Where the grippers 6 are five in number and arranged as shown to engage the depending marginal portions of the shoe upper 9, the sensing indicia 5 may be fluorescent marks applied directly to the shoe upper or with at least one side thereof extending transversely of the longitudinal centre line of the last 1. The longitudinally extending left and right sides of the trapezoidal senscarried by said patch 11 in a trapezoidal pattern, disposed the corresponding grippers 6-2L, 6-3L and 6-2R and 6-3R, while at least one \of the transversely extending sides of said pattern effects in a similar manner control of the toe gripper 6-1, which is responsible for exerting a longitudinal pull of the upper 9 upon the last 1.

In operation, the operator is required to locate the upper 9 on the last 1 by conventional tacking at the heel of the last and use may be made of further markings or equivalent indicia (not shown) on the shoe upper forepart and upon the last itself in order that the unsecured portions of the upper 9 may be accurately aligned with both the last 1 and with the grippers 6 at the pulling-over station. For example, the upper 9 may be provided with indicia adapted to be aligned with similarly identified areas of the last cone and may also include a nib at the extreme toe area for alignment with guide means provided upon the forepa-rt lasting apparatus.

As already intimated, the last 1 is positively located upon the jack or like support 10* which has means for maintaining said last in predetermined condition in relation to the lasting station. When the last 1 (and its supported shoe upper 9) is entered into the lasting station, the fluid pressure operated grippers 6 engage with appropriate marginal portions of the upper 9 for the pulling-over operation.

Each of the grippers may be controllable independently by the operator so that an initial snugging-down pull may first be applied by the toe portion gripper 6-1. In any case, the stretch of the shoe upper in a longitudinal sense at the commencement of the pulling-over operation serves to displace the patch 11 thereon and consequently the indicia '5 relatively to the sensing head 8 sufficiently to control further movement of the toe portion gripper 6-1, and early actuation of the appropriate photoelectric cell of the sensing head 8 during this initial or snugging operation (effected at relative low fluid pressure) may serve to indicate a low strength value of the upper material. Alternatively, or additionally, actuation of the sensing head 8 under such low pressure conditions may serve to actuate pressure responsive means for rejecting the shoe upper.

After the initial toe pull, the remaining grippers 6-2L, 6-21 1, 6-3L, 6-3R are engaged and operated and as the resulting stretch of the upper material conforms the upper 9 to the last shape the indicia 5 will become displaced toward optimum positions in relation to the last 1 and corresponding to the desired condition of the upper after lasting. As the indicia 5 assumes that condition the attendant displacement is sensed by the sensing head 8 and the grippers 6-1, 6-2L, 6-2R, 6-3L, 6-3R are actuated or arrested accordingly.

Final wiping of the lasting margin is then effected, for example, by known wiper plates 12, which may be operator controlled or which may be controlled automatically responsive to fluid pressure changes occasioned in the fluid supply to the grippers 6 when the latter are severally rendered inoperative following satisfactory pulling-over of the various portions of the upper forepart.

The preferred arrangement, as already mentioned, is to attach to the forepart of the shoe upper 9 a patch M of suitable material, such as scrap leather, bearing indicia 5 in the form of a pattern of trapezoidal or other suitable shape and composed of lines or bars of a fluorescent pigment. The fluorescent components are detected by a photo-electric system including photo-sensitive cells indicated generally in FIG. 5 by the numeral 13 and corresponding severally to the grippers 6, and the current from a photo-transistor 18 which is exposed to a mercury vapour lamp 19 to constitute a normal, said lamp 19 being conveniently carried by or near the sensing head 8. Each of the cells 13 of the photo-electric system controls one of said flow valves 17 connected to one of the grippers 6, each of the latter of which is preferably in the form of a single-acting hydraulic device. As shown in FIGS. 2, 4 land 5, the grippers 6-1, 6-2L, 6-3L, 6-2R and 6-3R comprise a cylinder 20-11, 20-211, 20-31,, ZtB-ZR, 2tl-3R, respectively, containing a slidable piston 21-1, 21-2L, Zd-SL, ZI-ZR, 21-31%, respectively, provided with pincers 22-2, Z2-2L, 22-3L, fi l-2R, 22-3R, respectively, or other mechanical claws or like jaws adapted to engage the margins of the upper 9.

The reference photo-transistor 18 is also conveniently mounted in the lamp housing of the sensing head 8 and is related to a reference channel amplifier 23 and to the phase sensitive detector 14 to which is also connected the photo-electric cells generally designated :13 or other detectors; the individual cells are numbered to correspond to the associated grippers 6, viz., 13-1, 13-2L, 13-2R, 13-3L, 13-3R. The relay amplifiers 15 are provided in circuit with the relays generally designated :16, one relay for each of the solenoid-operated control valves 17 and indicated individually 16-1, 1'6-2L, 116-2R, 16-3L and 16-3R.

The upper 9 provided with a suitable indicia pattern accurately positioned on the forepart thereof, having been arranged upon the last 1 with its back seam accurately located on the rear of the last, to ensure that the upper is centralised, the last 1 is then elevated to the correct height, that is, so that the top line of the upper is disposed to afford the correct draft line. The last restraining plate 4- is car-ried by a slidable pillar 24, which is adjustable and lockable for positively restraining the last 1 on the jack and maintaining its longitudinal datum in the required coincidence with the normal axis of the pincer group. When the pillar 24 is moved toward the pincers 22 of the grippers 6, the insole secured to the underside of the last 1 is supported upon the jack 10 and the lasting margin of the upper 9 is inserted by the operator into the open jaws of the pincers 22.

Closure of the start button 25 of the electrical control circuit energises a self-holding relay 26 and this operates a solenoid control valve 27 to direct pressure fluid from a source of supply to pincer control valves 28A, 28B. Pressure fluid is thus supplied to the gripper cylinders 20 and as these come into operation the operator is able to check visually the grip of the pincers 22 on the leather upper; the force of this grip may be indicated by a suitable device, such as a pressure gauge 29A or an indicator lamp. When the pressure reaches the required value the operator displaces a manual valve control 29 to direct pressure fluid to the solenoid valves 17, which are normally open, so that pressure fluid passes to the cylinders 20 to retract the pincer-carrying pistons 21 thereof to commence the lasting operation.

Each of the solenoid valves 17 is associated with one of a series of pressure responsive devices 30, marked 301, 30 2L, 30-2R, 30-3L and 30-3R to agree with the corresponding grippers, and associated with series and parallel wired contacts; the toe-gripper pressure responsive device 3041 is shown, by way of example, in FIG. 6.

As the leather upper 9' is pulled downwardly about the last -1 the indicia pattern is extended into a field which is bounded by photo-electric cells 13 and as the pattern reaches the required position, in any direction of move ment, the appropriate cell 13-1, 132L, 13-211, 13-3L or 13-3R operates, by way of the phase sensitive detector 14, the relay amplifier 1'5 and the appropriate relay 16 and solenoid-operated control valve 17, actuation of which interrupts the supply of pressure fluid to and thus arrests further movement of the associated gripper 6.

Because leather is a natural substance it will be appreciated that under control of the photo-electric cells 13 of the resultant lasting, whilst being correct as to position, may suffer from deficiences in tension, that is, it may be too low giving poor fit to the wearer and poor shape retententionor it may be too hig-hgiving a tight fit, with the possibility of upper breakage or seam failure.

The correct lasting tension will thus lie between two values T 1 and T2, of which T1 is the lower value. T1 and T2 are identified with pressure-operated electrical contacts 31, 32, 33 shown in FIG. 6 and interposed in the circuits containing the contacts of the cell-operated relay 1 6. These contacts are contained in the pressure-sensitive devices 30 communicated with the supply conduits leading from the solenoid valves 17. In the ideal condition the fluid pressure will cause contact 31 to close and this Will be followed by the closure of contact 32. The circuit to the solenoid will thus be completed and the supply of pressure fluid to its connected motor will be interrupted.

In the second condition the appropriate contact 32 will close, but because the leather tension is low the sensed hydraulic pressure will fail to close corresponding contact 31 until the minimum required lasting tension is obtained, at which point both contacts will be closed.

Where the lasting tension reaches a high value before the sensing pattern is correctly orientated the contact 33 will be closed to terminate the pulling operation, irrespective of the position of the lasted upper. Visual or audible signal means may be incorporated to record this condition.

When all of the solenoid valves 17 are actuated another control valve 34 is also operated by series-connected switches 35 to introduce the operation of the wiper plates 12 which are reciprocated toward the upper 9 and are swung in the known way to wipe the upper lasting margin beneath the insole. As the wiper plates 12 advance it is desirable that the gripper pincers 221 and one of each of the side pincers '22-2L and 222R should release the grip upon the leather, and as the wiper plates 12 further advance the grip of the remaining gripper pincers 22-3L and 22-3R should also be released. Control valves 28A and 28B are therefore operated by a cam track 36 or the like associated with the wiper advancing mechanism and operable to depress a valve plunger to release first the toe gripper pincer 22-41 and two forward side gripper pincers 22-2L, 22-2R under control of valve 23A, and then the two rear side gripper pincers 22-31., 22- 3R.

A timer device 36 may be and preferably is employed as shown to reverse the operation of the valve 27 to exhaust fluid from the operated cylinders 20 and to return the pincers 22 to rest positions on completion of a lasting cycle. Duration of the cycle is determined by a number of factors including that of the properties of the adhesive employed between the upper and insole which is activated by the heated wiper plates 12.

The machine may include also a power-operated toe pressure pad operating synchronously with the wiper plates 12.

As an alternative to the use of indicia separately applied to the shoe upper, the invention also contemplates the employment of wooden lasts so treated that the cone portion of a last exposed in the throat of the shoe upper may possess reflecting properties of a different value to that of the shoe upper. This latter method is particularly suited to the case of shoe uppers having a relatively small area of material available for the addition of an adhesive patch. In this case the seep throat available may form a suitable outline, when viewed obiquely from above, to substitute for the previously described indicia-bearing adhesive patch.

As a further alternative a suitable pattern may be carried by the upper material proper, either by a suitably disposed stitched pattern or by a printed pattern or indicia which may be removable after the lasting operation.

In either case the method of operation remains the same. As the shoe upper material is conformed to the last by the tension applied by the pulling-over devices the indicia or its alternative is displaced toward an optimum position in relation to the last and when in that position is effects, by its differential reflecting properties, variations in the light values recorded by the superposed sensing device or devices.

-I claim:

1. Apparatus for conforming a pliable blank to a former, comprising power-operated means for stretching the blank over the former, sensing devices operating to detect movements of portions of the blank as it is. thus stretched over the former and means responsive to said sensing devices to control automatically continued operation or arrest of the blank stretching means.

2. Apparatus for conforming a shoe upper to a last, comprising power-operated grippers, sensing devices operating to detect movements .of prescribed portions of the upper as it is pulled-over upon the last by said grippers and means responsive to said sensing devices to control automatically continued roperation or arrest of said grip- 3. Shoe upper conforming apparatus, comprising a last support, a plurality of grippers disposed around said last support and adjustable in relation thereto, means for locating and holding an upper-supponting last on said last support, power means for operating said grippers to eifect pulling-over of the upper, :a sensing system including a plurality of photo-sensitive cells mounted above and directed toward said last support, and contnol means responsive severally to said photo-sensitive cells as the latter detectz 'ght variatiqnsetteud nton movemen s .o po i of the upper as it is pulled-over the held last by said grippers and adapted to ,afiect said :gripper operating power means to influence continued movement or arrest select vely o sai grippers- 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim ,3, wherein sensing indicia in the form of a fluorescent pattern is carried by the upper, and wherein the sensing system incorporates photo-electric eelgls for detecting movement [of said indicia during pulling over of the upper.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, in which the control means comprises solenoid operated valves selectively operable in response to operation of the photo-sensitive cells for contnollin g the supply of pressure fluid to cylinder uni-ts including pistons carrying upper-gripping pinpp r-a u as a m d in claim 3 h a t r zed y the provision of means toefiect automatically the movements of wiper plates when the upper has been pulledover sufiiciently on the last.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further characterized by the provision iO'f means to effect progressive release of the grippers during the Wiping-under operation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS I 1 

1. APPARATUS FOR CONFORMING A PLIABLE BLANK TO A FORMER, COMPRISING POWER-OPERATED MEANS FOR STRETCHING THE BLANK OVER THE FORMER, SENSING DEVICES OPERATING TO DETECT MOVEMENTS OF PORTIONS OF THE BLANK AS IT IS THUS STRETCHED OVER THE FORMER AND MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID SENSING DE- 